an insider's perspective

A visit to Jaffna is not complete without visiting the Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil in the heart of the city. The presiding deity here is Lord Muruga. There have been four temples over the centuries. The original one, built in the 13th century was in a different location and close to the royal palace. Sadly, this was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1624.

The temple that stands now dates from 1749 when the Dutch were controlling Jaffna.

It is worth visiting at pooja time when worshippers pray in front of the different statues. This is accompanied by drumming and nadaswaram playing.

On a different note, Jaffna is famous for its ice cream parlours and this is a popular social activity in the city. Enjoy soaking up the atmosphere with a sweet treat.

jaffna

Jaffna, one of the northern most towns in Sri Lanka, is also one of the most fascinating and varies dramatically to the rest of the country. It is well worth a visit if you get the chance. Typical Jaffna scenes include people bicycling home with bananas and firewood on the back of their bicycles and majestic old houses adorned with carved roundels, grand porches and beautiful doors and windows.

The cuisine is a real highlight of a visit to the region. The crab and prawn curries are fantastic, as is the Indian food such as tandoori chicken and delicious naan bread. Other local treats include fragrant karthacolombanmangoes and the palmyra sweets that come wrapped in woven palm leaf parcels.

You shouldn’t miss visiting Nallur Kovil at puja time, especially if it is a god’s birthday when the ceremony is extra special. It is an amazing experience to follow the priests and worshippers around the interiors as they stop to offer prayers to each God. The drumming and nadaswaram playing make it incredibly atmospheric.

Point Pedro is also well worth a visit. The sleepy town is still very traditional; narrow streets are full of small individual shops selling spices, chickens, spicy samosas, mangoes and basket-wear. The peninsula reveals a white sandy beach dotted with colourful fishing boats. It is not possible to climb the lighthouse but you can walk to a point amongst the rocks where a flag marks the northern most part of the island.

Back in Jaffna town it is worth wandering around and exploring – admire the old Austen Cambridge taxis and the market place where huge dried kattawa fish hang from the beams of the shops, and white-clad pilgrims from the south buy treats to take home to their families.

A walk around Jaffna Fort built by the Dutch offers a different perspective of the town and brilliant views over the lagoon. The causeway that carves through the water has a magical quality, particularly at dawn and dusk when the light is breathtaking and fishermen on their bicycles, buses and tuk tuks bounce a

HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN PROVINCE

Scholars who attempt to lift the veil of obscurity that envelops the early (proto -, pre-) history of Jaffna face formidable obstacles: scarcity of literary evidence, very few archaeological findings and biased interpretations of available data.
The earliest local Tamil chronicles on Jaffna were composed in the Middle Ages. A prose work entitled Yazhppana Vaipava Malai was compiled by poet Mayilvakana Pulavar in 1736 A.D. This work depended on earlier writings such as Kailaya Malai, Vaiya Padal, Pararasasekaran Ula and Raja Mural. These, composed not earlier tha

MASUDI'S VISIT 1N 912 A.D,

Masudi states that the King was placed on a low chariot and while it was being drawn, a woman swept the ground and threw dust on the hair of the dead king, exclaiming the futility of life and extolling the worship of God. Before the body was put on the funeral pyre, it was smeared with sandalwood and cut into four pieces with a sword. The Purananuru states that the body of a king who did not die in battle was placed on a tharappu and cut by a sword before being cremated. This was a custom among the Tamils during that period.
S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, in his work entitled Tamilar Panpatu states that it is a Tamil custom to place the body of a king or a warrior who did not die in battle, on a tharappu and cut into pieces before being cremated. Masudi had definitely witnessed the funeral of a Tamil king. The reference by the woman who threw dust at the dead king to the " Eternal who is alive" was the reference to the Supreme Creator. This period was followed by the religious revival brought about by the Tamil saints. Therefore the ceremony referred to is definitely that of a Tamil king, since Buddhists do not believe in a supreme deity.

EVIDENCE OF EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF TAMILS

A large number of Sangam words spoken among the illiterate villagers of Jaffna again support our Sangam connections. Finds at Ponparippu also show that Tamils had lived not only in Jaffna, but in the vicinity of Puttalam, Anuradhapura and other interior parts of Ceylon. (The urn burials found in these parts are identical with the urn burials found in Adichanallur and other places of South India.) The Mahavamsa also refers to a clan known as Lumbakarnars who were ruling north of Ceylon in the first century A.D. Recent excavations at Kantharodai Buddhist stupas in which Sivaganams were found by Dr. Godakumbara, suggests that Tamils who were Saivites also had worshipped in this shrine.
Chroniclers state that King Vasabha who succeeded Subbha and ruled from Anuradhapura in 66 A.D. belonged to this clan. The Culavamsa also refers to the existence of the Lambakarna clan in the Pandya country. There is also evidence of a close connection between the Malavas of the Pandya country and the Lambakarna clan in Cey

THE JAFFNA PENINSULAR

During pre-historic times Ceylon is said to have been occupied by the Veddahs, Nagas and Yakkas. The Mahavamsa also refers to Lord Buddha's visit to Nagadipa (the Island of Nainathivu) in order to settle a dispute regarding a throne between two Naga Kings. This legend is again supported by the Manimekalai. It is difficult to find out what the language of the Nagas was at that time. But it is clear that during the Sangam period the Nagas of Ceylon were well versed in Tamil.
Nagadipa was the original name of the Islands of the Jaffna Peninsula. Ptolemy's map shows that a number of towns in Ceylon in the pre-Christian era had Tamil names. Megasthenes called Ceylon Taprobane but Pericles says that Taprobane was replaced by Palaesimundu, perhaps a corruption of Palayanakar. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana speak of the Nagas of Jaffna. The Mahavamsa says that Yakkas and Nagas occupied Ceylon before the advent of Vijaya.
Some Tamil Sangam poets were Nagas from Jaffna. The original language of the Nagas was perhaps Elu, a word from which Ceylon got the name 'Eelam'. But before the Ariyanisation of Ceylon, Tamil was perhaps the language of the Nagas and was spoken in Ceylon." Among the Sangam poets mentioned is Ilattup Putantevanar, who composed some verses in Kuruntokai, Akananuru and Narrinai. The Mahavamsa states that in the 6th century B.c. there existed Naga strongholds at Nagadipa under Mahodarai, the Naga King among the Sangam works, a few personalities who were referred to, as 'chieftains' appear to have come from Jaffna. For example Elini and Pittankorran" about whom verses appear in the Purananuru, appear to have come from Kudiraimalai, now identified with Kantherodai in Jaffna.